by Fern Shaw | Oct 23, 2012 | Health and Hydration
By now we are all fully aware of the benefits of drinking water, but to some, the taste of water does not encourage us to drink our recommended daily amount of water. Here are our 8 tops tips to adding some spice to your water…
1) Herbal mint leaves. Try adding some herbal mint leaves to you glass of drinking water. Not only will this add a fresh cool taste to your water but it is also 100% calorie free.
2) Fresh Fruit. try your favorite fruit as an addition to your water. Citrus fruits like lemons, limes and oranges are most probably the most common, but be daring, try some crushed raspberries or watermelon. Even adding slices of strawberries can add flavor as well as looking great.
3) Juice Blends. Most fruit juice can be a very good base flavor to add to your water. But always remember the health objectives of drinking water. Opt for juices that are natural and have no added sugar. They are great tasting and contain the vitamins and antioxidants that can only benefit your body further.
4) Ice. Great way to get creative. Invest in some appealing ice trays like stars or fish, add some of the suggestions above and freeze. Try your favorite fruit chopped up, even herbs like mint will freeze well.
5) Cucumber. Left over cucumber is always readily available. Add it to your water for that extra refreshing sip.
6) Basil Leaves. Crushed basil leaves left to soak overnight in water will bring about a whole new taste sensation.
7) Rose Water. Just a few drops of rose water will add a touch of class to your water.
8) Freeze clementine slices. Forget ice cubes, try freezing slices of clementines. These will not only work as ice blocks but will add additional nutrition to your water.
by Fern Shaw | Oct 19, 2012 | Health and Hydration, Water Coolers
Have you ever stopped to consider what your child is drinking when you are not around? Bear in mind that the majority of a child’s day is spent at school in the care of others. Another fact to consider is that dehydration is serious for all of us, but no more so than to our children. When a child is dehydrated they have already lost 20% of their ability to perform both physically and mentally.
We at AquAid recognized the importance of drinking water at school and for these reasons have to date become one of the leading water cooler and drinking water suppliers to schools around the UK.
An experiment in ‘brain hydration’ carried out at an Edinburgh primary school showed that the introduction of water bottles on pupils’ desks led to a significant improvement in national test results over a 2 year period. Despite these important facts, two-thirds of children are still not getting enough drinking water, and a 5th of children drink no water at all, according to research conducted by the Department of Health and Food Standards Agency.
It is vital that from a young age a child is encourage to incorporate water into their drinking patterns and to prevent themselves from becoming thirsty and hence dehydrated. We not only encourage schools to invest in water coolers for the children, but we supply mini reusable bottles that a child can fill with water and leave on their desk, therefore encouraging them to sip water continually during the day. A direct result of this will be seen in the child’s academic performance and higher levels of concentration.
by Fern Shaw | Sep 18, 2012 | Health and Hydration
In the very unfortunate event that you find yourself stranded outdoors away from civilisation, you will surely need water far more quickly than you will food in order to survive. Luckily there are some fantastic methods you can apply in order to keep yourself hydrated with safe, clean water until you are rescued.
You should keep bottled water with you at all times no matter where you are, but once this runs out, you will need to replenish your supply, so hold on to the bottle!
The very best method of purifying contaminated water is to boil it vigorously for about one minute, and then let it cool down before drinking. If you find yourself in an area with a higher altitude, boil the water for about three minutes. This will kill most biological threats such as harmful bacteria.
Alternatively, you could make a rudimentary water filter by following these steps:
Step 1 Cut off the base of your empty water bottle so that it now has two openings.
Step 2 Roll your sock tightly and place it in the bottle (by the bottleneck) , place some burnt wood charcoal on top of the sock. The wood should be completely black; do not allow any of the white ash to get in the bottle.
Step 3 Roll your second sock tightly and place it firmly on top of the charcoal. Cover it with some non-salty sand found from a river or stream.
Step 4 Find a third piece of clean cotton material, perhaps a cut-off from your shirt, roll it tightly, and place it on top of the sand layer. Cover it with some green moss or grass, as this will aid in improving the odour and flavour of the water.
You can then pour the contaminated water through this water filter, and it should come out clear from the bottleneck end. If the water does not yet look clear in appearance, filter it through again and again until it looks clear enough to drink.
It is imperative that you do not ingest contaminated water before purifying it, as this could lead to severe bacterial infection and suffering. Just keep your wits about you!
by Fern Shaw | Sep 10, 2012 | Health and Hydration
We hear so often that water is the healthy option and we are convinced that water is good for you. But how do you go about making drinking water a daily habit?
Here are some basic tips, which may seem obvious, but if put into practise, drinking the correct amount a water per day will become a natural part of your daily routine.
- How much water?
This is a debatable question. The best way to go about this is to form a routine. Drink a glass when you wake up, a glass with each meal, a glass in between meals, and be sure to drink before, during and after exercise. The idea is to prevent yourself from actually getting thirsty. Once you find that you are thirsty, your body is already dehydrated.
- Carry a bottle
Having a bottle of water with you during the day is a very useful way to have continued sips of water. Keep a bottle on your desk at work or in your car. Keep re filling it and within sight.
- Set a reminder
Set your watch to beep at the top of each hour, or set a periodic computer reminder, so that you don’t forget to drink water.
- Substitute water
If you would normally get a soda, or a cup of tea or coffee, get a glass of water instead.
- Water Cooler
Instead of spending a fortune on bottled water, invest in a water cooler for your workplace or home. This is a great way to keep chilled filtered water at hand as well as keeping costs down.
- Exercise
If you’re going to exercise, be sure to drink water a couple hours ahead of time, so that it will get through your system in time, and again, drink during and after exercise as well.
- Track it
It often helps, when forming a new habit, to keep track of it — it increases awareness and helps you ensure that you’re staying on track. Keep a little log which can be as simple as a tick mark for each glass of water you drink.
by Fern Shaw | Aug 15, 2012 | Health and Hydration
One would think that in the modern world that we find ourselves in, everyone has access to the most essential element needed to stay alive, but unfortunately, that is not the truth.
Here are some very interesting and extremely scary facts about water that you might not know about.
- Worldwide there are more people without access to clean, safe drinking water than there are people in China! Over 1.6 billion people do not have drinking water.
- More people in Africa alone die from disease infected water than wars kill worldwide each year. An estimated 3.5 -4.5 million people die each year because they don’t have access to safe water.
- The average person in many African countries use less water each day than what we use to flush our toilets. Your toilet uses 8L of water on average, they have less than 5L per day
- Diarrhoea is the leading cause of deaths. Contaminated water claim more than 2 million youth lives each year.
- On average, a child dies every 15 seconds due to the lack of safe drinking water
- 50% of all the schools don’t have access to drinking water, or any sanitation
- The recommended water that a person needs per day for sanitation, drinking, cooking and general consumption is 50L
- 18 litres of water weights around 20 kilograms.
- 2/3 of all the struggling water users worldwide use less than 6L of water per day. That is almost 1/10 of what they should use
- The average African woman spends close to 20h per week collecting water
- African woman walk, on average, around 7 kilometres each day just to get a watering hole or well
- Many Sub-Saharan Africans share the source of their drinking water with animals and other wildlife, leading to more disease being spread and transferred.
- To produce one kilogram of coffee takes more than 10’000 litres of water
- To produce one kilogram of rice requires more than 5000 litres of water
- It only takes around £1 to help a child to get safe drinking water
These are very sad and troubling statistics, but with the aid of major companies and individuals there is hope. This is why we at AquAid have donated over £6 million pounds to water related projects in the Thirld world. We continue to do so to bring hope to thousands of lives and make a difference.
by Fern Shaw | Jun 20, 2012 | Health and Hydration, Water Coolers
The London Olympics are now just a few days away and the anticipation is starting to show in the entire nation. The United Kingdom Olympic team has a very good change of walking away with one of the top spots for overall medal counts. However, have you ever thought of the logistics around an event of this magnitude, even for something as simple as just supplying water?
With over 14,000 athletes, referees, officials and coaches attending the event, the requirements, and needs of those individuals are extreme. If the athletes drink only three litres of water a day, which is normal for high performance individuals, then the water requirements for them will be 42,000 litres of water per day, or 714,000 over the seventeen days that the Olympics will be held. If they only used water bottles to quench their thirst, it would take almost a million bottles of 750ml bottles to keep them correctly hydrated. An even scarier thought is that the three major pools at the London Olympics will hold approximately 10 million litres of water. Fortunately, for the spectators and visitors that will be flocking to London for this amazing sporting event, companies like AquAid have taken the correct steps to ensure that all their customers will have sufficient water for the duration of this summer’s main sporting event.
They have a wide range of mains fed water cooler rental solutions on offer to their new and existing clients that will ensure that all their water needs are catered for. The mains fed water coolers filter and clean the mains water that every house delivers. This simple system ensures that there is no need to worry about water supply during the summer. This service will be vital for guesthouses, hotels, hostels and other accommodation venues across the UK.
According to the organisers, over 250, 000 rooms have been made available in the immediate vicinity of the main stadium alone. If you are one of those new accommodation sites, ensure you have clean, safe and cool water ready !
